Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC

I am sure many of you heard that the first media Batman, Adam West, passed away on June 9.  I feel like some of my childhood passed away with him. You see, he made an immense impact on pop culture at the time. 

On the TV reruns in the early 1970s, my sisters and I enjoyed trying to guess what “Holy (whatever)!” would come out of Robin’s mouth. We also loved the graphics of “BAM!” “ZAP!” and “POW!” etc.

The show was over-the-top campy and fun. Not dark and sinister like today’s Batman.

My Batman was strait-laced and silly and innocent. I remember an episode where Catwoman runs into a ladies room. Batman and Robin are completely perplexed how to get her because there is no way they can go in a ladies room! Robin states, “We can’t step into that most hallowed and forbidden no-man’s land without closing our eyes.” So they go in the restroom with their eyes closed. Classic!

The show itself was revolutionary and smart, embracing the passive resistance and non-violence ideology (flower-power) during the Vietnam War era. This Batman was incredibly witty and we always came away with a morality lesson when watching it.

OK, so what in the world does all of this have to do with our profession? Well, think about it for a minute. It took some time for me to get used to today’s darker Batman and the truly evilness of the villains. In a way some of my childhood innocence was lost.

So I have to wonder what it is like when we saturate the millennial culture on our older adults in our facilities, without realizing how shocking and uncomfortable and “alien” that might be.

We need to think about the decades our residents grew up in and what influenced their growth, before immersing them in current media and pop-culture. This should become a reflex for us, especially as we prepare for the boomers. 

I mean, “Holy culture shock, Batman! I don’t even want to know what a ‘baby daddy’ is!”

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. She has not starred in her own national television series — yet. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.